Trump just got his first approval rating as president — and it's not good

President Donald Trump.Evan Vucci/AP Photo
President Donald Trump's first job-approval rating is in, and it is the lowest an incoming president has ever received.

Only 45% of Americans approve of Trump's job performance over the first three days of his presidency, according to a Gallup survey released Monday. It's the first time a president has received an initial approval rating under 50% in the history of the poll, which dates back to Dwight Eisenhower's first term in 1953.

Another 45% of Americans disapproved of Trump's performance — also the highest such initial rating in the poll's history. The remaining 10% had not yet formed an opinion.

Republicans and Democrats were sharply divided over the president's performance, the poll indicated, with 90% of Republicans signaling approval and 81% of Democrats disapproving. Independents appear to be split, with 40% approving and 44% disapproving.

Men were more likely to approve of Trump's performance than women, 48% to 42%. The racial disparity was even greater, with 56% of whites approving compared with 22% of nonwhites.

The survey affirms the findings of other polls conducted before Inauguration Day that showed Trump to be a historically unpopular incoming president. Trump denounced that batch of polls as "rigged" last week.

While Trump is the first president to receive an initial approval rating below 50%, two other presidents came close to matching him. Both George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan started their presidencies with an approval rating of 51%.

Advertisement

But those two cases are different, Gallup points out, in their disapproval ratings. Both Bush's and Reagan's initial disapproval ratings were below 15%, with a large chunk of Americans responding they hadn't yet formed an opinion.